Falkland Oil and Gas Limited says that Noble Energy and its joint venture partners FOGL and Edison International have elected to defer a potential second well in the South and East Falkland basin.

The joint venture partners have concluded; having taken into account a number of factors, that the optimum course of action is to defer the drilling of a second well in the southern basin. In these circumstances FOGL was amenable to a proposal from Noble, that in order to fulfil the drilling commitment, they should utilise the contracted drilling slot to drill a well in the North Falklands Basin.

This revised drilling programme will mean the joint venture partners: •Have more time to fully assess the Humpback results, and given encouragement, plan further exploration and appraisal wells •Can potentially take advantage of lower future drilling costs •Will be able to complete the technical assessment of the Scharnhorst and Starfish prospects and determine whether they are suitable future drilling targets in light of the Humpback results. •Additionally, it will also result in FOGL being in a stronger financial position at the end of the current drilling programme.

Tags: Falkland Oil and Gas Limited